SNP forced to admit hand in NHS trans guidance

The Scottish Government played a part in devising controversial transgender guidance for NHS Scotland, it has been revealed.

Responding to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the Government disclosed that the official guidance had been developed with the help of its own “subject matter experts” within the Civil Service.

The revelations come as Sandie Peggie pursues legal redress from NHS Fife, after the trust disciplined her for objecting to the presence of a man who purports to be a woman in a staff changing room.

Safer spaces

Mrs Peggie, a nurse with 30 years’ experience, was reprimanded, investigated, and suspended for objecting to sharing NHS Fife’s female changing rooms with Dr Upton, a man who identifies as a woman.

NHS Fife’s HR department – in the name of ‘inclusivity’ and respecting someone’s self-declared gender identity – defended the right of the male-bodied doctor to be present while Mrs Peggie and other female members of staff changed for work.

Policy analyst Dr Kath Murray, who submitted the FOI request, observed that as the Sandie Peggie case was unfolding, “government officials were deeply involved in plans to push out the poor advice underlying events in Fife across the entire NHS”.

She continued: “The government needs to stop trying to duck its responsibility here. It’s time it acted decisively to take serious protections for women in the workplace, right across the Scottish public sector.”

Equalities watchdog

In February, media coverage of policies and practices relating to single-sex changing facilities at NHS Fife, along with pending NHS Scotland guidance on ‘transitioning’, led the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to write to the Scottish Government.

In its letter, the EHRC reminded Health Secretary Neil Gray of its role in enforcing Equality Act compliance across Britain in relation to the provision of single-sex services and spaces.

It told the Minister that it had also written to NHS Fife to highlight its obligations under the 2010 Act “specifically in relation to the protection of individuals from discrimination and harassment on the basis of protected characteristics, including sex, religion or belief and gender reassignment”.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the watchdog intends to contact the Trust again and said it “will consider any appropriate next steps, including the use of our enforcement powers”.